"Today Our attention is directed to one of the most common of them (abuses), one of the most difficult to eradicate, and the existence of which is sometimes to be deplored in places where everything else is deserving of the highest praise; the beauty and sumptuousness of the temple, the splendor and the accurate performance of the ceremonies, the attendance of the clergy, the gravity and piety of the officiating ministers. Such is the abuse affecting sacred chant and music."- St. Pius X, Pope

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

What are you doing to protect your Mother?

Before I can really get into why I have a problem with “Eucharistic
Ministers”, I thought I should first give some definition to what we’re talking
about here.
Nowhere in Canon Law will you find the term “Eucharistic Minister”. The
actual term used in the Code of Canon Law is “Extraordinary Minister of Holy
Communion”. The word “extraordinary” should jump out at you. As the word
implies, that what we understand as “Eucharistic Ministers” are supposed to be
exceptions to the rule (or exceptions to the “ordinary”. The “ordinary”
minister of Holy Communion is a cleric (Bishop, Priest, Deacon). That is who is
supposed to be administering Communion.
The question as to whether or not a layperson can assist in the distribution
of Holy Communion would require a long, drawn out explanation of Canon Law. So
what I’ll do is sum it up briefly, as it pertains to the normal experience of
Sacred Liturgy.
1. If priests or deacons are present, and able (they aren’t ill, they can
stand and walk) a priest or deacon is supposed to distribute Holy Communion.
Period.
2. In EXCEPTIONAL circumstances a layperson may be designated to temporarily
assist the ordinary minister(s). Those exceptional cases include:
a. The priest is not available
b. The priest is physically unable to distribute communion (sick, etc)
c. There are SOO MANY people at mass that it would take too long to
distribute communion to everyone (Of course, this one is entirely
subjective, which is why it’s so over-played in the modern Church. How long is
“too long”?. Is 20 minutes that much longer than 10 minutes? Is the Eucharist
worthy of 10 extra minutes of our time at mass? Is there another priest sitting
around in the rectory? Why isn’t he helping to distribute communion? Are there
Deacons associated with the Parish? Why aren’t they asked to show up at least
to distribute communion?).
The use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion nowadays though has
become abusive. Everyone uses them, at every mass, no matter how many priests
are available to distribute communion, and no matter how many, or how few people
are receiving communion during that mass. As this abuse falls under the
subjective umbrella of Condition C (listed above) I would suggest we all lean in
the direction of caution (and reverence) and not support what may be an abuse of
the Canonical permission to use EMHCs.
But there are also spiritual reasons why I have a problem with EMHCs. Apart
from the fact that they’re overused, I believe using extraordinary ministers at
all takes the Eucharist experiecnce away from the realm of the sacred, and
reduces it to the realm of the common. This itself is canonically, and
theologically unsettling. The mass is—by order of rule rather than
opinion—supposed to be the highest prayer of the Church, providing the senses
and intellects of the faithful with an extraordinary experience. That’s Church
teaching, not just my opinion. The mass is supposed to provide an environment
which, in EVERY WAY, removes the faithful from the realm of the common, and
elevates them to a more sacred. A solemn environment. It’s why everything
involved with, or surrounding the mass is so majestic (or WAS before we ruined
it all). When children grow up seeing “Bobby from down the street” handing out
communion, what is that child learning about the Eucharist? He or she is
learning that there’s nothing special or distinctive about it. When John or
Jane (adult Catholics) see Bobby handing out communion, how are they eventually
conditioned to regard the Eucharist? There are reasons why half the Church fails
to recognize that the Eucharist is the TURE body and blood of Christ. We
teach them that it’s just bread and wine. We teach them this because
ordinary people are handing it out. We stand up to receive it (like we stand up
for every other thing we do in our lives), we receive it in our hands (like we
handle everything else in our lives). There is nothing whatsoever exceptional
about the Eucharist experience. It’s no wonder people have lost respect and
reverence for it. It’s not distinctive because it’s just ordinary people
handling it out. There’s nothing exceptional about the Eucharist….because
there’s nothing exceptional about how it’s distributed or how it’s received.
See what I mean?
I think extraordinary ministers are over used. Way over used. It’s my
personal preference not to see others supporting what I believe to be
contributing to the decay of regard the faithful have for the Eucharist.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Boy, do I agree with you. Pope John Paul II made that clear and some of the greatest offenders are some priests and deacons. The wrong term has become, so to speak, the new normal. I sometimes wonder if some of the clergy ever read the documents. As we are taught, we come to believe and our catholic theology is becoming warped.Thanks for this - you are right on. Blessings.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. The Novus Ordo has become a platform for all kinds of abuses, the EMHC included. It is no wonder that the Churches are becoming as noisy as a church hall with all the chatter going on before and after Mass. That awesome reverence our people had is quickly vanishing. Our Church, at least in Nova Scotia, is being Protestantized. One only has to attend a latin Mass in the EF to experience just how Protestant we have become. Before any real evangelization of a true Catholic nature can take place, our semanaries need to be reformed, otherwise the cart is being placed before the horse. Personally, I can't take much more.

The Bergoglian Heresies

click for link

Rosicagate

Click above for link

St. Pius X

"...the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer. [...] Indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists."